NBC Sports Regional Networks Debuts New Graphics Package, Launches Cloud-Based Graphics-Production Ecosystem The cloud-based graphics ecosystem built upon Ross Video's Xpression and Game Creek Video's GCV Anywhere platforms By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Thursday, September 26, 2024 - 2:37 pm
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For the first time in a decade, NBC Sports Regional Networks are launching a new graphics package that will debut for 2024-25 NBA and NHL seasons. Inspired by NBC Sports' Big Ten football package, the new package will debut tonight for NBC Sports Philadelphia's Islanders-Flyers broadcast.
We believe this package is on a level with the best of the best - not just in regional sports but for any live sports package, says Earl Camburn, senior director, creative services, NBCU Local/NBC Sports Regional Networks. We take our regional sports very seriously and our primary goal is to super serve the fan on a level that national broadcasters simply can't. I think this new package reflects that.
As part of the move to a new on-air look, NBC Sports Regional Networks have also instituted a cloud-based graphics-production ecosystem built upon Ross Video's Xpression and Game Creek Video's GCV Anywhere platforms. It's believed to be the first time a fully cloud-based graphics system has been used for all games by an RSN group.
In leveraging Xpression and the cloud, this package is more flexible operationally and it allows the operators to be more agile with their designs, says Maurissa Dorn, production systems architect, NBCU Local. That was something our graphics team was very passionate about. This gives them the ability to be able to quickly change, adapt, and customize every little detail because all assets are centralized in the cloud. It's a great change for usability and I think it's going to result in a better look overall.
Building off the Big Ten: NBC RSNs Take Inspiration From the Mothership Camburn and company identified the opportunity for a graphics-package rebuild upon first seeing NBC's new Big Ten football package just before it launched for the 2023 college football season.
We've always strived to be in lockstep with the [NBC Sports Group] mothership, but over the years NBC Sports has started to change up their look across different properties from Sunday Night Football to Premier League and so on, says Camburn. They recently created a new look for Big Ten football and when we saw that we instantly saw it as our chance for a refresh of our own package and chance to emulate that NBC Sports look.
Camburn and Senior Art Director Chris Hein then approached NBC Sports Group Senior Art Director Chad Hudson and his creative team about adopting the Big Ten package for its RSNs' pro sports coverage.
We have a wide variety of graphics and we're a pretty aggressive about the amount of graphics that we give to the producers, so we knew we would have to build it out differently, says Camburn. [NBC Sports] was actually very excited about the project because if we built it out for professional sports then we could give them back the files to that they could use them for their own broadcasts. And in fact, they used a simplified version of [our package] for the Olympic trials earlier this year before we even launched it ourselves.
Camburn and company then showed some samples of the package and offered an estimated buildout timeline to Jon Slobotkin, SVP, content and live programming, NBCU Local/NBC Sports Regional Networks. Coincidentally, Slobotkin and his team were exploring a move to a cloud-based graphics workflow that could provide NBC RSNs with more flexibility and agility moving forward.
We took the plunge and decided to do the graphics refresh and the workflow refresh at the same time, says Camburn. Looking back, it was a pretty ambitious because we were not only building a new package, we also had to learn an entirely new graphics system because we were switching [technology vendors] to Ross Xpression.
Building Out the Package: Jacob LaPlante and Academy of Lower Thirds Join the Party Camburn knew that building out assets for 30+ MLB, NBA, and NHL teams was going to be a massive undertaking for NBC Sports Regional Networks' small team, which is composed of two art directors and one graphics integrator.
As terrific as they are, there was simply no way [our internal staff] could have possibly built this entirely on their own, says Camburn. So we knew we were going to need help both on the design and integration side.
Jacob LaPlante, who had worked with NBC Sports on its Big Ten and Sunday Night Football packages, was enlisted to help version out all the assets for each team, including color schemes and 3D logos. On the technical side, Camburn brought in Academy of Lower Thirds to provide training on Xpression and assist in the overall buildout. Lisa Pilkington, graphics integrator, NBCU Local/NBC Sports Regional Networks, helped to lead the effort along with Tina Harding, graphics integrator, NBC Sports Philadelphia and Academy of Lower Thirds owner Marty Dormany and graphics designer Dave Bachman.
As long as I've been with the company, we've always driven by how we can better connect with the fan and we know that the fan associates most to the team logo and colors, says Camburn. They have an emotional connection there, but it's not always easy to hit those sweet spots in a [graphics package]. Thankfully, Ross Xpression is so efficient and dynamic that we are able to adapt the package easily so the logo and team colors really pop in every [version]. They jump right off the screen at you and the producers have been really happy with it.
In addition, the scorebug, which is a TV Graphics product, has been reskinned to match the new
